1. Technical Field
The present application relates to a method and compound for promoting neurogenesis and promoting recovery after neural injury and neurodegeneration. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and composition for promoting neurogenesis and plasticity in the nervous system.
2. Background of the Invention
Stroke occurs when a section of the brain becomes infarcted, resulting in death of brain tissue from interruption of cerebral blood supply. Cerebral infarcts associated with acute stroke cause sudden and dramatic neurological impairment. Stroke is the third most common cause of death in the adult population of the United States, and is a major cause of disability.
Pharmacological interventions have attempted to maximize the blood flow to stroke affected brain areas which might be able to survive, but clinical effectiveness has proven elusive. As stated in Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine (9th Ed., 1980, p. 1926), “despite experimental evidence that . . . [cerebral vasodilators] increase the cerebral blood flow, as measured by the nitrous oxide method, they have not proved beneficial in careful studies in human stroke cases at the stage of transient ischemic attacks, thrombosis-in-evolution, or in the established stroke. This is true of nicotinic acid, Priscoline, alcohol, papaverine, and inhalation of 5% carbon dioxide . . . In opposition to the use of these methods is the suggestion that vasodilators are harmful rather than beneficial, since by lowering the systemic blood pressure they reduce the intracranial anastomotic flow, or by dilating blood vessels in the normal parts of the brain they steal blood from the infarct.”
It would therefore be useful to develop a compound and method for lessening the effects of stroke by enabling neurogenesis to occur.